Yponomeutoidea is a
superfamily of
ermine moths and relatives. There are about 1,800 species of Yponomeutoids worldwide, most of them known to come from temperate regions.
This superfamily is one of the earliest groups to evolve external feeding and to colonize herbs in addition to shrubs and trees.
Families
The family composition of Yponomeutoidea has varied over time, with a 2013 study assigning eleven families:
*
Argyresthiidae
*
Attevidae
*
Bedelliidae
*
Glyphipterigidae
*
Heliodinidae
*
Lyonetiidae
Lyonetiidae is a family of moths with around 200 described species. These are small, slender moths, the wingspan rarely exceeding 1 cm. The very narrow forewings, held folded backwards covering the hindwings and abdomen, often have pointed G ...
*
Plutellidae
The Plutellidae are a family of moths commonly known as the diamondback moths, named after the diamondback moth (''Plutella xylostella'') of European origin. It was once considered to have three subfamilies: Plutellinae, Praydinae, and Scythrop ...
*
Praydidae
Praydidae is a family of false ermine moths in the superfamily Yponomeutoidea. Though once considered a subfamily (Praydinae), a 2013 molecular analysis elevated it to family rank.
Genera
*'' Atemelia'' Herrich-Schäffer, 1853
*'' Dictyoprays'' ...
*
Scythropiidae
*
Yponomeutidae
: ''Certain members of the unrelated snout moths (Pyralidae) are also known as "ermine moths." Spilosoma lubricipeda is an unrelated moth with the common name "white ermine."''
An ermine moth is any moth in the family Yponomeutidae, which has s ...
*
Ypsolophidae
Etymology
The word Yponomeutoidea comes from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
(') meaning under and (') meaning food or dwelling, thus "feeding secretly, or burrow".
References
Sources
*''Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders'', edited by Christopher O'Toole, , 2002
*van Nieukirken et al., 2011. Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In:Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.) Animal Biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness.
Zootaxa' '
''
212-221
External links
leptree
Lepidoptera superfamilies
{{Yponomeutoidea-stub